Top 5 Interviewer Faux Pas

Just as candidates can often say, and do, the most inappropriate things at interview, so can the interviewer, and in today’s talent led market it could easily cost you your next star hire – whether that’s the person you’re interviewing, or their highly talented colleague who they relay their negative experience of your company to.

Here are our top five examples of interviewer faux pas (which unfortunately are all too real):

1. Bad mouthing a former colleague – especially if it’s who the role is replacing. Keep your feelings to yourself, no matter what you actually think about them. Don’t give your prospective employee any reason to doubt your integrity as an employer.

2. Don’t keep candidates waiting. You expect them to arrive on time so why should they expect any different?

3. Keep focussed. No taking calls, checking your texts/emails or looking at your watch. Even if it’s evident the candidate may not be for you, it’s just plain rude.

4. Not preparing. “Have you brought your CV with you, I couldn’t find it”, “What role are you here for again”, “Sorry, what’s your name”. We’ve heard them all. And worse. Take a few minutes to look through the CV and think about what you want to find out. After all, you expect the candidate to have done their homework, so why should you behave differently. A lack of preparation infers a lack of respect and genuine interest.

5. Rude behaviour. Whether it’s dismissive comments, smirks between co-interviewers, or actively not listening to the interviewee, there’s no excuse for rude behaviour. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect.

As we highlighted in our employer branding report, the interview creates a lasting impression of your company and forms a big part of the employee onboarding process. A negative interview experience can almost immediately undo all the investment and hard work that’s gone in to developing a strong employer brand.

It’s akin to poor customer service… a candidate on the receiving end of a badly conducted interview is likely to share their experience with numerous others. One of them might be your dream employee.